1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an ampul package as well as a molded container and constituent unitary molded lid and tray components therefor.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
While molded plastic containers have come into increasing use as a means of packaging sundry types of articles and goods, their applicability for packaging certain types of articles and products has not been heretofore found to be feasible. For example, in the past it has been customary practice of ampul manufacturers to package and ship open-ended, empty ampuls to a pharmaceutical house, or supplier, where the ampuls are subsequently processed, filled with an appropriate medicament, pharmaceutical, serum, or the like, and thereafter hermetically sealed. For purposes of shipment to the pharmaceutical supplier the empty ampuls conventionally have been packaged in chip board, cardboard or kraft board boxes or containers. Ordinarily, such containers comprise a hollow, rectangular box or tray over which a rectangular lid is telescopically assembled. Each shipping container ordinarily houses several rows of ampuls snugly packed in axially upstanding position. A quantity of the packed shipping containers are then grouped and stacked together to form a palletized load for shipment to the pharmaceutical house or supplier.
While the use of cardboard, chip board, or kraft board, provides a relatively economical material for packaging such ampuls for shipment, the use of any such materials has presented problems with respect to the cleanliness of the ampuls when received by the pharmaceutical supplier. During shipment, it has been found that fiber particulates tend to dislodge or become disassociated from the interior surfaces of the shipping container and accumulate or settle upon and within the interior confines of the packaged ampuls. Thus, the pharmaceutical supplier must exercise extreme and meticulous care to thoroughly cleanse such particulates from the ampul prior to the filling operation. Moreover, the presence of such particulates requires that extreme care and precaution must be taken to avoid their airborn movement or transition into the vicinity of the ampul filling areas.
One of the more commonly utilized types of apparatus for the processing of empty ampuls prior to the filling operation is the widely-known Hodes-Lange ampul washing apparatus, such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,896,381. Briefly, such apparatus is designed to receive ampuls which have been packaged in separated rows of 12 each and to feed one row at a time for processing. Also, the apparatus is particularly designed to rely upon the presence of thin upright separator sheets positioned between each row of upstanding ampuls for the purpose of selectively limiting the feeding of one row of ampuls at a time to the apparatus. As constructed, the apparatus is also adapted to receive the separators and selectively separate them into suitable collection containers. In operation, the separators are required to maintain a dimensional thickness of about 0.035 inch in order to be properly handled by the apparatus. Here again, it has been customary practice to fabricate the separators from cardboard, chip board, or kraft board and their presence in the ampul shipping container and introduction into the ampul feeding apparatus constitutes a further source of contamination by fiber particulates in the vicinity of the ampul processing and filling operations.
In the past the desire to avoid the problem of contamination due to particulate fibers emanating from the shipping containers and the separators has prompted efforts to devise alternative types of ampul shipping containers or packages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,704 describes the use of a thermoplastic liner as a dust-proof liner with which to cover the interior surfaces of a compartmented paperboard shipping carton for pharmaceutical containers. However, such efforts have failed to attain any appreciable commercial acceptance either due to the relatively high cost of such alternative forms of containers or their incompatibility with the commonly employed types of apparatus used in the pharmaceutical industry for decasing the empty ampuls from a shipping container. Accordingly, a definite need has been found to exist for a container for the shipment of empty ampuls from the ampul manufacturer to the pharmaceutical supplier which will permit the ampuls to be received by the pharmaceutical supplier in a dust-free, or particulate-free, condition. No less importantly, the need exists to structure the shipping container in such manner that it can be readily accommodated with existing ampul processing equipment and at a sufficiently low cost to warrant commercial acceptance.